I grew up in a loving family in a tight-knit working class neighborhood. My father was a Providence firefighter. My mother worked in school food service providing for some of the city’s neediest children. It was by their example of faith, compassion and integrity that I learned the value of public service, the constancy of family and the strength of community. Even today, I am moved by those memories.
Regrettably, I feel that we have lost something very important. The civility, neighborliness and bipartisanship that dominated public service at one time has given way to rancor and divisiveness. I’m not suggesting candidates and elected officials cannot disagree. I am saying that compromise, once a noble pursuit, has become synonymous with weakness and traitorousness. I disagree and will dedicate myself to a new - old path… a path that brings us together rather than driving us further apart.
Shannon has lived in Amherst for nearly two decades with her husband of over 30 years, Tom Silvia. Shannon and Tom are the parents of four: James, Isaiah, Elizabeth and Eamon.
Shannon served three terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, where she was the chair of the Committee on Resources, Recreation and Development; is serving her second term in the State Senate where she sits on the Commerce and Judiciary Committees. During the first year of her second term, Shannon has passed key legislation to help improve transparency about state expenditures from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds.
Shannon is dedicated to serving her community.
She is a director on the board of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence as well as a member of the University of Rhode Island College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council. Shannon is an active member of the Amherst Junior Women’s Club, the Souhegan Valley Quilters Guild and the Villagers Chapter of Questers. She is a past member of the Amherst Town Ways and Means Committee, the Amherst PTA and the Board of Directors of Girl Scouts of the Green and White Mountains. She is the former chair and past member of the SHARE Outreach, Inc. Board of Directors.